James Acaster has officially become the third Traitor in The Celebrity Traitors 2026, joining Maya Jama and Richard E Grant after last night’s huge cliffhanger. Episode 2 picked up in the chapel, where James and Amol Rajan had been brought face-to-face with the Traitors and told that one of them would be recruited and the other murdered. Maya and Richard ultimately chose James, meaning Amol became the first celebrity murdered and the first contestant to leave the series.

We were glad to see James kept in, but he had already made it clear that he never wanted to be a Traitor. He was one of the few celebrities who actually wanted to stay a Faithful, and he has openly admitted that lying is not exactly his strongest skill. So we’re not quite sure how well he is going to adapt, which should make for very interesting viewing over the next few episodes. Who knows, he might settle into the role better than he expects, but right now we’re not entirely convinced he is built for the pressure of all the lying and murder. Especially when some of the people he has to lie to are fellow comedians who know him well enough to spot when something is off.

The Grave Challenge Leaves Two Celebrities at Risk

Before the challenge even began, Claudia asked the celebrities to choose a partner and warned them to choose carefully, as the decision could mean the difference between life and death. They then arrived to find a graveyard filled with coffins, where Claudia revealed the next twist. The night before, the Traitors had been asked to choose one person who would remain above ground and decide whether to spend the challenge freeing the others or collecting money for the prize fund. They chose Ross Kemp.

Because Romesh Ranganathan had paired up with Ross, he stayed above ground too, meaning both were automatically safe from the next murder. Claudia also made a point of reminding everyone that the Traitors could have chosen absolutely anyone, including one of themselves, which immediately put suspicion on Ross. Was he simply the person they trusted to get everyone out, or had the Traitors conveniently kept one of their own away from the coffins?

For everyone else, it was time to get buried. Any celebrities still inside their coffins when the challenge ended would be vulnerable to murder, and there was also a safe word if anyone wanted out early. The only problem was that shouting “haggis” would put both them and their partner at risk. Jerry Hall very quickly decided that coffin life was not for her and called out the safe word, meaning both Jerry and her partner, Professor Hannah Fry, were released and on the chopping block.

Ross got to work, and he was basically a machine. Given the choice between digging for gold or freeing the others, he decided to get everyone out first and did a huge amount of the heavy lifting. Once freed, the other celebrities also got dug in, pun very much intended, and helped with the remaining graves. Ross still powered through the task freeing pair after pair, with the rest of the group quickly joining in. They managed to get everyone else out before time ran out and still collected £5,000 in gold for the prize fund. That meant Jerry and Hannah were the only two celebrities up for murder, meaning one of them will be gone in the next episode.

Richard E Grant Comes Under Fire at the First Round Table

We had the first Round Table of the series, and most of the heat was on Richard E Grant. It all goes back to Episode 1, when Joe Lycett asked him outright what he was and Richard casually answered “Traitor” twice in a room full of people. He realised pretty quickly that he might have made a mistake, although some of the others laughed it off as Richard being Richard, especially as they all know how much he wanted to be a Traitor. Others were not so convinced. A few of the Faithfuls said they could not ignore what he had said and, with very little else to go on, Richard’s name was the obvious one to write down. There were some people arguing that it would almost be too obvious for him to actually be a Traitor, so he is not completely done for just yet.

Hannah Fry also brought up a theory in the car about Leigh-Anne Pinnock after she mentioned touching up her make-up before bed, which Hannah found suspicious enough to share with Joanne McNally. Joanne then took the theory straight to the Round Table. From the outside, knowing Leigh-Anne is a Faithful, it is very funny because she was quite literally just a girlie queen making sure her make-up was still looking on point, but when there is so little evidence this early in the game, every tiny thing starts getting analysed. Joe Lycett and Julie Hesmondhalgh also picked up a little suspicion, but Richard was still the main name being discussed. We really do not want to lose him this early, but unless the vote takes a surprise turn, we have a feeling we might be saying goodbye to one of our original Traitors next week. The episode ended before any votes were revealed, so we will have to wait until Thursday to find out who becomes the first celebrity banished.

For CultureCues, this was another great episode and The Celebrity Traitors is already delivering some comedy gold only two episodes in. Poor James. We do feel for him because he clearly did not want to become a Traitor, and right now we are not entirely convinced he is going to be very good at lying to everyone. We are hoping he can quickly adapt to the cloaks, murders and deception though, because if he does, he could end up playing an absolute blinder. Maya is handling the game well so far, and we really hope we do not lose Richard this early because he has already given us some brilliant TV. I was in stitches when he very seriously asked Rob Beckett if he has more teeth than a normal person.

We also feel for Hannah, who is now up for murder alongside Jerry after Jerry could not handle the coffin challenge. Absolutely fair enough if that was one of her fears, but it is still a rough outcome for Hannah through no fault of her own. Now we just have to wait until the next episode to find out who is banished, whether Hannah or Jerry becomes the next murder, and what completely innocent thing will send Ross Kemp into another spiral of paranoia. Cloaks at the ready. Bring on Thursday.

The Celebrity Traitors continues next Thursday at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

More From CultureCues

Celebrity Traitors 2026 Launches With Huge 8.9 Million Viewers

Who Are the Traitors in The Celebrity Traitors 2026? Faithfuls and Traitors Revealed

Celebrity Race Across The World 2026 Line-Up Revealed With Sam Ryder, Princess Andre and More